steps involved in a PROPER repaint

[beanbag]

Anybody can point me to a link or let me know what are all the steps in a proper repaint? By proper, I mean restore something so that it looks factory and lasts a while. I don't mean a MAACO paintjob, nor a Concours paintjob.

The reason I ask is that my corvette buddy got his rear quarter panel bondo-ed and his buddy is offering to repaint it. He sez he knows what he is doing and can paint without any orange peel. However, he says things like you don't need to wetsand the color layer, wheras I thought that you did. I'm also concerned as to how well he can color match, since I don't think he is a pro with that expensive color matching equipment.

The other alternative is to have a body shop do the work. What's a way to determine if they are good? I figured that I could ask them what steps they would take in the repaint.

Thanks

[Burlyq]

Rear panel bondo-ed and looks factory don't match. You will find all the information on this website, gl.
http://www.autobody101.com/forums/

[smak]

well i had my late model mustang done about 8 years back and it has held up really well.

i was very involved in alot of the work (was done at a relatives shop.. so i did most of the prep and medial tasks.. but the painter did let me lay down some base coat on the lower door panels )

the whole car is d/a'd down, dented panels pulled, knicks, chips etc.. filled.

if theres any surface rust its sandblasted off, chemically converted (used a product called "rust mort" and then was sprayed with a zinc based dark green primer. with fiberglass this wouldent be applicable.

then a softer yellow primer was sprayed down on all the painted surfaces and smoothed down again with a d/a. surface inspected and possibly another lighter coat layed and re d/a'ed where needed.

then cleaned up very meticulously, and pushed into the spray booth for base/clear/clear/clear hehe.

dont recall ever hearing of sanding the base coat.

not so specifiec write-up with pics at http://ca.geocities.com/dreamn@roger...age/paint.html

[MorBid]

No you don't sand the base coat and on the "application" part of the paint's instructions (doesn't matter the manufacturer) it clearly says so.

"color sanding" is only used for single stage paints which, as the name suggests, only consist of a single type of paint. The paint has the proper materials in it to bring up the shine and protect the finish

"Wet sanding" is used on Dual Stage paints (u quessed it base and clear coat systems) in which the base is only applied in layers enough to achive "hiding". It has no properties to for gloss or to provide protection but provides the proper "substrate" for the Cleat Coat.

If you sand the base coat you'll have to re-apply more before being able to shoot the cleat coat over it.

After the cleat coat is applied then you wet sand.

Paint maching can be achived either by using the letter code found on the RPO Sticker some where on the car or by taking the car to any Auto Body supply store which sells auto paint. They have a really cool camera there that they bring out and put on a panel.

It takes a picture (or something) and they download that information to another machine inside the store and it tells them exactly what color that paint is and what to mix up to get it.

It takes alot to get a paint job without any orange peel, and after painting a few cars if that's the worse defect I have when I'm done (it can get worse) it's not a big thing cause you'll need to wetsand the finish anyway.

Check the AutoBody Store forums and how-to's for more info